John scanlan



c UNITED STATES VI )ILITitIvT OFFICE.

JOHN SCANLAN, OF POUGHKEEPSIE, ASSIGNOR T HIMSELF AND DAVID HOIT, 0FALBANY, N. Y.

CAR-DOOR FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 269,963, .datedJanuary 2, 18 3. Application iledeptember23,1882. (No'mot'lelll i .Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN SGANLAN, of Poughkeepsie, in the county ofDutchess and State of New York, have invented au Improvement in Car-DoorFastenings, of which the following is a specification.

Robberies of freight-cars on railways are` of frequent occurrence, andit has been found Vthat the Vrobber usually jumps on the freightl rotrainl while going comparatively slowly up grade, climbs upon top of thecar, lies down, reaches over the side, drives a spike into the side ofthe car, lowers himself dowuthereby, and witll a hammer breaks the haspor catch holding the padlock, opens the door, passes in and closes thesame after him, selects the articles wanted, opensthe door and pushesthem out at the spot pre-arran ged With confederates, andjumps off. zoTo prevent robbery of this kind is the object of the present invention;and it consists 1n the combination, with the sliding ear-door, of a boltacting from the top of the 'ear vertically so asto pass in behind thetop corner of the door, and a lever above the top of the" car foractuating suclrbolt, and means for securing the same in place. Thisdevice, being y on the top of the. car, can be seen by the conductor orengineer, and if the same is raised .y 3o so that the door can beopened, it remains in an elevated position, because the bolt rests onthe top of the door when open, and should the robber pass into the carthe said bolt, being automatic inits action, locks the person into theoar, making him a prisoner.

1n the drawings, Figure l`is anhelevation of the upper part of acar-door and the bolting device, and Fig. 2 is a plan'of the same.

rEhe car is made in any usual manner. A 4o portion of the side aand topb are shown. The door c rests at the bottom upon slideways, and' usuallyis provided with rollers, and at `the top there Iis the overhangingguide-rail c, that keeps the top of the door in place. A 4 5 locking-hasupon -thedoor and a staple, g, upon the door-frame are provided, asusual.

Upon the top of the car is a lever, It, pivoted at one end in the jaw7c, that is firmly secured to the top of the car, and there is a bolt,l,

`5o connect-ed at its upper end bya joint to the lever 7L and passingvertically, ornearly so, Y

a through a mortise that is behind and. *above the back edge of thedoor, so that when the bolt is depressed it comes behind the door. When-the bolt is raised it is above and may '55 rest upon the top edge ofthe door as it is slid along beneath it. V

Any suitable locking device may be used for holding down the lever h. Ihave shown the jaw m and cross-bolt n, adapted to receive a 6o lock orseal. A hole may be madethrougll the bolt to receive a pin that holds upthe bolt when raised,so as to keep it out of the way While the car isbeing loaded up.

By the foregoing construction it Will be evident that when the car-doori's open or partiallyopen the lever h will be in an elevated position,and can be observed by the engineer or train-hands, and will indicatethat the door has not been closed orV is partially open. If 7o therobber succeeds in opening both fastenings and getting into the car, andto prevent detection hecloses the door so that the lever h falls, thebolt, beingautomatic, holds the doo .and makes the robber a prisoner. 75

This improvement is also useful with empty cars, because the bolt keepsthe car-doors closed and avoids the resistance to the movement of thetrain resulting from thetwind entering the car when the door becomesopen. 8o

It will be evident that a handle, or a screw, or a link may be combinedwith the bolt in place ofthe lever for raising or lowering such bolt andforming a visible indication ot' the position of the bolt.

1 claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the sliding cardoor,cfa vertical bolt above the back part of the door, and mechanism abovethe car for operating such bolt, substantially as set forth. 9o

2. The lever It, pivoted at one end above the top ofthe ear, theboltconnected to the lever and passing vertically,or nearly so,in behind thedoor of the car, and means tor locking the lever and bolt, substantiallyas set forth. ,65

Signed by me this 21st day of September, -A. D. 1882.

JOHN SCANLAN.

Witu esses:

HAROLD SERRELL, WILLIAM G. MoT'I.

